---
title: 1 Samuel 3:17 (JPS 1917) — And he said: 'What is the thing that He hath spoken unto thee? · tree and pragmatics
description: And he said: 'What is the thing that He hath spoken unto thee? Who acts: Eli. 1 Samuel 3:17 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# 1 Samuel 3:17 · JPS 1917, sentence 1 of 2

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And he said: 'What is the thing that He hath spoken unto thee?

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**Who acts:** Eli · **What happens:** say, be, speak · **To what, where:** thing · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is 1 Samuel 3:17 · JPS 1917, sentence 1 of 2 in the English of the Jewish Publication Society's 1917 translation, from Mova's open Bible corpus. The page gives the sentence's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies, parsed by Mova and checked by a teacher model — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Eli), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it. The original of the verse links back to its own tree and to the Targum.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = jps:1SA:88
# text = And he said: 'What is the thing that He hath spoken unto thee?
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	9	punct	_	_
5	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	_
6	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	9	nsubj	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	ccomp	_	_
10	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	13	obj	_	_
11	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	hath	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	spoken	speak	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	9	acl:relcl	_	_
14	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	13	obl	_	_
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: wh-question
- act: ask
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Eli |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | present |  | the thing |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **speak** *speech: other* | present · perfect | Eli | the thing |  |  |  | unto thee | tree rules |

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One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

## The Hebrew of this verse {#hebrew}

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וַיֹּ֗אמֶר מָ֤ה הַדָּבָר֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר דִּבֶּ֣ר אֵלֶ֔יךָ אַל־נָ֥א תְכַחֵ֖ד מִמֶּ֑נִּי כֹּ֣ה יַעֲשֶׂה־לְּךָ֤ אֱלֹהִים֙ וְכֹ֣ה יוֹסִ֔יף אִם־תְּכַחֵ֤ד מִמֶּ֙נִּי֙ דָּבָ֔ר מִכָּל־הַדָּבָ֖ר אֲשֶׁר־דִּבֶּ֥ר אֵלֶֽיךָ׃

[1 Samuel 3:17: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1SA.3.17/)

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This verse in JPS 1917:

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1. **And he said: 'What is the thing that He hath spoken unto thee?**
2. [I pray thee, hide it not from me, God do so to thee, and more also, if thou hide any thing from me of all the things that He spoke unto thee.'](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/1SA.89/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:1SA:88` of Mova's parse database.

**The tree and the speech act** come from Mova's cycle: the small model's draft, read by a large model as teacher, passed by Mova's gates (Elamur Cosmic License). **The frames** are read from the tree by Mova's frames reader (`prag`) when this page is built, the chapter read in order, so a pronoun may be resolved from an earlier sentence of the chapter.

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